US approves trials of new cancer drug delivery procedure
US approves trials of new cancer drug delivery procedureBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) yesterday said that a new cancer drug delivery system — DBPR115 — developed by an affiliated institute has obtained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as an investigational new drug that can enter phase 1 clinical trials. IBPR Director Chang Jang-yang (張俊彥) said that drugs can be used to treat cancer cells, but high doses often cause severe side effects, as they can also damage normal cells. Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei TimesThe new system more effectively delivers drugs to targeted cancer cells, reducing the side effects, Chang said. The new delivery system uses a small molecule to replace the antibody and bind it to the drug, delivering it to targeted cancer sites more efficiently, increasing drug concentration at targeted tumor sites for a better therapeutic effect with reduced side effects, Tsou said. The small molecule drug delivery system can also enhance the drug’s ability to recognize signals from cancer cells more effectively, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 15, 2021 15:56 UTC
China breached HK declaration: UK
China breached HK declaration: UK‘NONCOMPLIANCE’: Changing Hong Kong’s election rules violates the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Dominic Raab said, but Beijing said the UK had no say in the matterThe GuardianBritish Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab on Saturday accused China of breaching a legal deal over the governance of Hong Kong, amid criticisms of Beijing’s attempts to tighten its control over the territory. “The UK will continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong. China must act in accordance with its legal obligations and respect fundamental rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” Raab said. Tensions have been growing since China imposed a National Security Law in Hong Kong, making it easier to clamp down on protesters. The joint declaration was signed by the UK and China in 1984.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 16:00 UTC
KMT sidelines foreign influence bill
KMT sidelines foreign influence bill‘MOUTHPIECE FOR CHINA’: DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei slammed the KMT, saying that the bill is much needed in the face of Beijing’s attempts to influence TaiwaneseBy Chien Hui-ju and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) on Saturday slammed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after the latter returned a draft foreign influences transparency act to the legislature’s Procedure Committee earlier in the week. Last year, the DPP and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party proposed a foreign hostile forces transparency act and a foreign forces and agents act respectively. Compared with other pan-green camp bills proposed over the past year, undeclared foreign agents would face a bigger fine under the new proposed bill, while people who failed to register as foreign agents would have faced fines of NT$200,000 to NT$700,000. The proposed foreign influences transparency act would have given regulators the information they need to be aware of influence, for example by requiring lobbyists to disclose the foreign governments for which they work or depend on for funding, he said. In response to Chen, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that “if Chen really cares about the issue, she should not have added her personal political agenda” to the bill.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Notes from central Taiwan: Taiwan’s spent nuclear fuel problem
We discussed his work in Taiwan over the years, and the tough decisions involving spent nuclear fuel currently facing Taiwan’s policymakers. Michael Turton: You got in touch with me to discuss the problem of Taiwan’s spent nuclear fuel. Can the [Democratic Progressive Party] DPP government solve, in a smart way, the disputed issue of Taiwan’s spent fuel disposal, far away from Jinshan and Guosheng? As you know, besides the AIEA’s [International Atomic Energy Agency] own controls, the country of origin of nuclear reactors has the obligation of control over the spent nuclear fuel. Mark agreed that the best possible ultimate fate for Taiwan’s spent fuel would be reprocessing in France, leaving no plutonium in Taiwan.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Leave rules might change for new parents
Leave rules might change for new parentsBy Chen Yun and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn amendment proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) would allow a new parent to take partially paid leave for a full year. Wan has proposed amending the Employment Insurance Act (就業保險法) to allow one parent to take a year of leave at 60 percent of their regular salary. Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei TimesSince 2009, only 18.1 percent of dual-income families have applied for one year of leave, Wan said, adding that it is evidence that the current policy does not meet the needs of most families. “It is not easy raising kids, and most families today are dual-income households, but of the 616,958 dual-income families that had babies last year, only 136,476 applied for one year of leave,” she said. It is better to loosen the regulations and let couples decide themselves who will take leave,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
INTERVIEW: Algal reef vote could save endangered species
INTERVIEW: Algal reef vote could save endangered speciesCome August, a campaign to protect algal reefs off the coast of Taoyuan is poised to become the nation’s first ecological issue to be put to a vote. Pan: The algal reef is like the “nourishing room of maritime life,” providing a similar function to that of corals. Taoyuan has two fishing ports, Chuwei (竹圍) and Yunan (永安), whose fishing industries are made possible because of the algal reefs. They had grown to about 70cm, evidence that the algal reef is a healthy ecosystem, where the fish eggs incubated... TT: You describe the Datan algal reefs as a world-class ecological asset.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
TWSE-listed companies post 28 percent aggregate sales growth
TWSE-listed companies post 28 percent aggregate sales growthStaff writer, with CNAProduct sales by 946 companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) rose 28.12 percent to NT$2.48 trillion (US$87.98 billion) last month from a year earlier, as many of them escaped of the doldrums caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, exchange data showed last week. Among the 946 firms, 639 reported year-on-year sales growth, while 307 reported a decline, the exchange said. Photo: Chen Yung-chi, Taipei TimesElectronics firms with wide product portfolios recorded the highest year-on-year sales growth to NT$436.3 billion, or an aggregate growth of 79.4 percent, the data showed. Shipping companies posted sales of NT$90 billion last month, up 55.71 percent from a year earlier, on the back of increased freight rates, the exchange said. In the electronic components industry, aggregate sales rose 45.85 percent to NT$124.4 billion, the data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
More firms to file reports in English
More firms to file reports in EnglishBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterA total of 657 companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) and the Taipei Exchange (TPEX) are this year required to upload their annual reports in English before their annual shareholders’ meetings, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday. The requirements are stricter than last year, when the commission demanded that only companies with paid-in capital of NT$10 billion or more must prepare reports in English. Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling speaks at a news conference in Taipei on Feb. 13, 2018. Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei TimesAs a result, 657 firms — 518 TWSE-listed companies and 139 TPEX-listed firms — need to provide English-language reports this year, from 351 firms last year, the commission said. From 2023, all TWSE-listed companies and TPEX-listed firms with paid-in capital of NT$600 million would be required to have their annual reports in English for investors, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Woman apologizes over faking pregnancy online
Woman apologizes over faking pregnancy onlineStaff writer, with CNAA transgender Internet celebrity on Saturday apologized for faking a pregnancy, after weeks of controversy surrounding a photograph she posted on Instagram showing her with a protruding stomach. “I wish to express my deepest apologies to anyone who was misled by my actions,” Wang Yao (罔腰) wrote on Facebook, adding that she would be more careful in what she posts online. The entrance of the Kaohsiung Department of Health is pictured on Saturday. The Kaohsiung Department of Health launched an investigation to determine whether any hospital had breached the nation’s Regulations on Human Trials (人體試驗管理辦法) by carrying out an illegal uterine transplant. Despite the apology, the couple is being investigated for possible breaches of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), the department said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Looking for a home
Rules to release positive cases to be relaxed todayASYMPTOMATIC: People who test positive for COVID-19 overseas and those who test positive in quarantine may get out of isolation early, public health authorities said Modified standards to allow people who have tested positive for COVID-19, but have no symptoms, to be released from isolation after arriving from overseas are to be implemented today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, asymptomatic individuals who test positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Taiwan would be divided into two groups. The first group is “arriving travelers who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in other countries and later tested negative twice before entering Taiwan,” Chen said. He said that they would be released fromBy Lee I-chia
Source:Taipei Times
March 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
EDITORIAL: Lessons from the pineapple saga
EDITORIAL: Lessons from the pineapple sagaIncreased orders for Taiwanese pineapples have helped the government overcome a crisis sparked by China’s ban on the fruit, but healthier agricultural policies are needed as “pineapple nationalism” ends. By comparison, the Australian Office Taipei was quiet, despite Wu’s reference to “freedom wine” promoted by Australia when he launched the pineapple initiative. Despite the Council of Agriculture’s subsidies for shipments and air cargo, it is never easy to sell agricultural products to markets other than China, which remains the main destination of Taiwan’s agricultural exports. Taiwan is known for its exceptional work developing cultivars, such as mango pineapples and peach wax apples introduced last year. To minimize the effect of market fluctuations, authorities should plan with growers in mind, rather than getting lost in agricultural politics.
Source:Taipei Times
March 13, 2021 16:05 UTC
Joint water shortage drill to be held in Taichung
Joint water shortage drill to be held in TaichungBy Su Meng-chuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Taichung City Government and the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency are to hold a joint water shortage drill tomorrow, as it aims to prepare city residents to deal with possible water shortages. The decline in water levels nationwide due to a lack of rainfall has led to increasingly dire water shortage situations across the nation, prompting Taichung’s response. The drill would focus on establishing temporary water stations and systems that would guarantee that hospitals have emergency access to water, as well as filtering water sourced from construction sites, the city government said. Starting on Feb. 1, industrial water use has been reduced, while companies that continue to use a lot of water have been subject to weekly monitoring to clamp down and conserve water, the city government said. The city government urged residents to observe water-use guidelines and to use potable or tap water for cooking and drinking, and reclaimed water for general-purpose cleaning.
Source:Taipei Times
March 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
CECC might bar at-risk travelers from Palau tours
Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), made the remarks on the sidelines of the Taipei Traditional Chinese Medicine International Forum. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei TimesNoting that Palau has not had any confirmed COVID-19 cases, Chen said that all travelers from Taiwan would have to present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result from a Taiwanese hospital before boarding a plane to Palau. Chen reiterated that only group travel would be allowed to reduce contact with local residents. Taiwan yesterday reported no new domestic or imported COVID-19 cases.
Source:Taipei Times
March 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Former presidential adviser Chiou Chwei-liang dies
Former presidential adviser Chiou Chwei-liang diesBy Lee Hsin-fang and Lin Chia-nan / Staff reportersThe government yesterday expressed grief over the death of former Presidential Office policy adviser Chiou Chwei-liang (邱垂亮), while highlighting his contributions to democracy as well as Taipei-Canberra ties. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was sorrowful to learn of Chiou’s passing, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said in a statement. Former Presidential Office policy adviser Chiou Chwei-liang, who died in Australia yesterday, is pictured on May 27, 2004. Chiou was also committed to fostering talent and conserving Hakka culture, while contributing to advancing the Taiwan-Australia friendship, Chang said. In 2003, the Australian government awarded Chiou a medal, marking his special contributions, the ministry said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: From place of worship to palace of hell
Its faded, yellow exterior looks quite garish today, but in 1977 the design won first place in a national architectural competition. The temple had long ceased to be a place of worship by then, and until 1967 it was used by the Taiwan Garrison Command as a detention and interrogation center, mostly for political prisoners. PALACE OF HELLAn illustration of the Indian-style Higashi Honganji, which was built in 1936 and demolished in the 1970s to make way for the Shizilin Commercial Building. The first iteration of Higashi Honganji lasted just two years, burning down in 1930. The classical Indian-style structure, rarely seen in Taiwan, was erected in its place in 1936.
Source:Taipei Times
March 13, 2021 15:56 UTC